Learn how to bake with CBD

Love to bake? Consider yourself the GBBO champion of your neighbourhood? I, too, am an avid baker and GBBO fan, and one of my favourite ways to take my favourite pastime and put a fun new spin on it is to bake with new ingredients—specifically CBD, or Cannabidiol.

One of the most delightful ways to incorporate CBD into your life is to bake with it. Baking with CBD offers a multitude of benefits, the first of which is increased accessibility. It’s a great way for someone who’s canna-curious to dip their toes into the water without being overwhelmed or worrying about getting high. Baking with CBD also helps mask the “weedy” taste of CBD flower/oils and allows you to ingest larger doses of CBD at any given time.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and get baking? I’ll walk you through all you need to know so that you can whip up your very own CBD baked goods at home.

Step #1: Source your CBD carefully

The first step in baking with CBD is to ensure you have high-quality CBD available. Determining whether your CBD is high quality comes with a few mandates. The first is to trust your source. A trustworthy CBD product bears a label with ingredients stating the product has been tested and evaluated by a third party. This means what you’re getting is free of any pesticides or mould. A little social trust never hurt anybody, either, meaning these products should also ideally have online reviews for you to read through. And since we know that medium-chain triglycerides help mitigate the “first pass” effect of the digestive system it’s a good idea to look for products made with MCT coconut oil or other heart-healthy fats such as avocado oil.

The second step is to always work with full or broad-spectrum CBD products. ‘Full spectrum’ means the oil contains all of the major and minor cannabinoids found in the plant as well as other compounds like terpenes. This form of CBD offers the greatest therapeutic benefit. It’s all thanks to the entourage effect which states that the medical benefit from a variety of cannabinoids greatly outweighs the benefits of consuming any singular cannabinoid compound on its own.

Step #2: Consider potency

You want to keep a careful eye on the potency of your creations. Start off by calculating how much CBD your contains, i.e. 20 mg of CBD per 1 ml. You can then decide what the ideal target strength for each treat (e.g. each muffin) would be; I find 10 mg is a great place to begin. Multiply that by how many treats you’d like and you’ll get an idea of how much oil you’ll need to use. You can also find many helpful calculators online specifically for this purpose.

For instance say you calculate that 1 ml of your CBD tincture contains 20 mg of CBD. You might be baking for a party of 20 guests. That amounts to 20 ml of tincture or barely a tablespoon’s worth. In this instance, you’d want to find a recipe that utilises a very small amount of oil (a few tablespoons’ worth) such as a cookie. Cakes use a far larger oil ratio and are better suited for more potent treats.

Step #3: Add CBD to your favourite recipes

All that’s left now is to balance out the recipe. If you’re using a tablespoon of CBD oil and a cookie recipe calls for 4 tablespoons total you’ll want to use 3 tablespoons of non-infused oil in addition to your one tablespoon of CBD oil.

This is also the place to get really creative with your flavour pairings, especially for users who don’t enjoy the “weedy”, earthy taste of CBD. Chocolate, of course, is one of the best ways to mask the taste, with dark chocolate working far better than milk. Other flavourings that have worked very well for me include adding in a pinch of espresso/espresso powder, bright flavours like orange or potent spices like cardamom or clove (used modestly, of course!).

Step #4: Bake away!

The last and final step is to bake your new goodies. Since CBD contains volatile compounds such as terpenes that evaporate at low temperatures you’ll want to be sure to bake your goods at a temperature no higher than gas mark 4/180° C. This ensures that the plant’s phytocannabinoids remain intact, providing the greatest possible medical benefit.

Baking with CBD is an extremely satisfying challenge. It’s also a fun new way to bake that’s only just been discovered so you’ve got plenty of room to innovate. We’re all a little CBD curious, and I’m willing to bet that you’ll have all the neighbours stopping by looking for treats in no time at all.

Have any lingering questions? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!

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Janelle Lassalle

Author

Janelle is a lifestyle and cannabis writer based in Portland, OR. An expert on all things cannabis and CBD, you can find her work featured in publications like Leafly, Forbes and DOPE Magazine. She's also an aspiring filmmaker, an avid Nutella addict and enjoys cooking long, fancy meals on the daily.

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